Syria: Civilians Are Paying The Price For Putin’s “War On ISIS”

By Alistair Reign. November 13, 2015. Alistair Reign News Blog.

Have Russian forces in Syria killed more civilians than the International Coalition allegedly killed in one year? According to the twenty-five page report published by Syrian Network For Human Rights on November 2, 2015, Russian airstrikes have killed 83 Children, 42 Women, and 129 men, bringing the number up to 253 people killed in less than one month.

SNHR states that they have “recorded not less than 57 alleged Russian airstrikes since 30 September 2015 and until 26 October 2015,” however their research reveals that only eight of those airstrikes were actually military targets. [Pdf p. 3]

Syrian Network For Human Rights, was founded in 2011, and is an independent, non-governmental human rights organization with a mission to document the human rights violations in Syria. Their website Methodology states that SNHR is a certified source of statistic and analysis for the United Nations, as well that they “are [a] reliable source for several international and regional human rights bodies, in addition to hundreds of Arab and Western Media.” [sn4hr p. 1]

SNHR website is published in six languages, and reports daily on human rights violations to the Syrian people. To date they have published approximately 120 research reports, as well they have officially recorded dozens of civilian massacres in Syria.

My understanding of the methodology used by SNHR is a broad, inclusive, and detailed series of well-constructed, and adhered steps of researching, documenting statistics, official records, witness accounts, and the analyzing and categorizing of incidents, details of each individual killed or injured, in addition to the where, what weapons, and which forces where either identified by witnesses, or had claimed responsibility for the attack.

SNHR recognizes the report’s discrepancy according to the numbers reported by Syrian governorates, and have included the following statement in their Methodology: Finally there is something very important we would like to tell in this context, that government forces by itself doesn’t recognize only by 2469 victims killed during Syrian revolution, and they stopped since 2012 from providing UN with any new files of their victims. Syrian government doesn’t have any human rights, political, even media side document and record those cases for them. [sn4hr p. 3]

The Head of SNHR, Fadel Abdul Ghany. (Photo: via Twitter)

The head of SNHR, Fadel Abdul Ghany has this to say, “If the Russian regime wants to play an effective political role in the Syrian crisis that it must stop the bloodshed instead of contributing to it. In one month the Russian regime killed civilians and armed opposition more than the International Coalition did in one year, in addition to displacing tens of thousands of civilians, the Russian intervention worsened the situation dramatically.” [Pdf p. 2]

In their report, Syrian Network for Human Rights documented 52 airstrikes in regions that are under the control of armed opposition.

‘For every 44 targeted civilian regions under the control of armed opposition, 5 regions under ISIL’s control were targeted. Therefore, armed opposition regions were targeted nine times more than ISIL’s regions. The following categorizes the airstrikes locations.’ [Pdf p. 3]

Not Under ISIS Control:

Idlib: 21

Aleppo: 15

Hama: 5

Lattakia: 3

Homs: 8

Under ISIS Control:

Aleppo: 3

Homs: 2

Airstrikes have killed a total of 265 individuals:

254 civilians

includes 83 children

includes 42 women

and 11 armed opposition gunmen

Additionally, we [SNHR] received news about the death of a great number of armed opposition members in the Kurd Mountains and in Hama suburbs, but up till this moment, we could not receive or verify the victims’ names, death toll or shelling details, and therefore we cannot include it in this report. However, almost 75% of the victims’ death toll is civilians .due to the Russian shelling. [Pdf p.3]

According to eye-witnessed accounts, Russian airstrikes have targeted the following vital facilities:

Medical Facilities: 4

Schools: 2

Mosques: 4

Shelters: 1

Bakeries: 2

Service Facilities: 3

Industrial Facilities: 1

I have summarized the twenty-three separate airstrikes where witnesses alleged Russian airstrikes caused death, or injury to civilians; excluding military targets, and bombings where no civilians were injured, or killed.

Akraybat, Hama, 4 October 2015. Warplanes shelled the town with four rockets at a sheep market in the town’s entrance:

Aleppo, Hayyan, 24 October 2015. Warplanes performed seven air raids where it launched not less than 8 rockets. At one of the targeted locations a rocket loaded with cluster munitions caused the following casualties:

killed two civilians

and injured 5 others, including member of the Civil Defense team

Aleppo, Hayyan, 24 October 2015. Warplane attacks on the northeastern side of the town:

Hama, Kafr Zieta, 26 October 2015. Warplanes shelled a public hospital with two rockets:

injured 3 civilians

SNHR has included video footage documenting several of the location’s aftermath, each showing the trail of destruction and death left in the wake of airstrikes on (what appears to be Russian warplanes targeting) populated markets, homes and hospitals.

A Video that depict the shelling remnants from the alleged Russian airstrikes that targeted Dar Ezza City on 7 October 2015. A video that depicts victims who were pulled out from under the rubble of Dar Ezza bombing. A video that depicts the shelling aftermath from the alleged Russian warplanes on Ma’sareen town. A video that depicts the destruction in the school due to the alleged Russian shelling on Ein Larouz town. Videos that depict the shelling aftermath and pulling out victims’ bodies from under the :rubble when Al Ghanto town in Homs was shelled on 15 October 2015. A video that depicts the targeting of the Civil Defense members while they were aiding the victims after the alleged shelling by the Russian warplanes on Al Tamanaa’ town in Idlib on 10 October 2015. A video that depicts the shelling aftermath and how bodies were pulled out from under the rubble after the Hayyan town bombing. A video that depicts the cluster munitions’ remnants and shows one of the armed opposition members who collected the remnants and disarmed it. A video that depicts the shelling aftermath from the alleged Russian warplanes on a makeshift hospital in Al Hadder town on 15 October 2015. Videos that depict the shelling aftermath and pulling out victims’ bodies from under the rubble when Al Ghanto town in Homs was shelling on 15 October, 2015. The shelling aftermath due to the alleged Russian warplanes on Kafr Kameen in Aleppo .on 16 October 2015. A video that depicts the shelling aftermath on the Great Mosque in Zaytan town due to the alleged Russian warplanes. A video that depicts the body of the victim Waseem Al Adel.

This article references the SNHR report published November 2, 2015 titled, ‘Russian Airstrikes Kills 254 Civilians Including 83 Children and 42 Women.‘